continuous migrane aura

[cardinal65]

My 12 yr old son has been diagnosed with continuos migrane aura without infarction. He has been seeing blinking spots for 4 yrs now. Doctor says it is rare. Have any of you had this and been successful at breaking the cycle. It would be great if he would stop seeing his spots. He also periodically has migraines which consist of stomach aches and dizziness again without the headache.

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
How is your son? Persisting aura symptoms are indeed rare  and may last for months or years. Effective and reliable treatment is not well established. But some studies mention medications such as  acetazolamide and valproic acid to have helped in a few cases. ( ref: http://www.migraine-aura.org/content/e25968/e26078/e26305/index_en.html) Discuss this with your doctor for proper management. Take care and do keep us posted.

[cardinal65]

Thanks for the information. He has started taking the valporic acid. He is slowly working up to the full dosage. No side effects at this time but also no change in his twinkling lights as he describes them.

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
Thank you for the updates. It is good that you were able to have him see his doctor and medication has already been started. Continue with this medicine as prescribed by his doctor. The medicine is usually started on a low dose and gradually increased over the next weeks. It is important that he avoid stopping this medicine abruptly to prevent serious side effects. If he wants to stop, tapering or  decreasing the dose gradually is necessary. Do keep us posted how it goes. Take care and best regards.